


The venerable history of the Hooper women

by sophie9709



Series: The world of Molly Hooper [2]
Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: BAMF Women, Gen, Women Being Awesome, Women doctors, Women in medicine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2729630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophie9709/pseuds/sophie9709
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The history of the Hooper women, and why Molly is so badass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The venerable history of the Hooper women

The females of the Hooper household, in their various ages, and guises, have always ended up doing extraordinary things- or at least most of them (There is very little hope for the likes of Kate Hooper, whose lack of upbringing would break any geniuses into dunderheads). The reasons for this are unknown. It is definitely not genetics, for the married into Hoopers follow the same pattern (remember Mr Hoopers senior’s wife?).

 

Consider for example Beatrice Mandy Hooper, London prostitute during the Victorian era. She was alive around the time when Jack the Ripper was killing and had a passion for bartitsu. It can be said that serial killers like killing so much that if they suddenly stop it is because they were killed themselves. What is less well known is that Beatrice was the killer of the killer. She, after seeing Annie Chapman die from his vicious attacks, did extensive detective work that lasted for many years (unfortunately not fast enough to save three others). She eventually tracked him down, drowned him in the Thames, and allowed his body to wash away far out to the Chanel. 

 

Her niece Elizabeth Caroline Hooper was no slouch either. She was weak of body, but brilliant of mind. She became one of the first female doctors in England. This was often unknown, as she wasn’t the first woman doctor. Her medical certificate ended up at the bottom of one of the chests in the current Hooper attic. But while she was alive, the certificate would hang up proudly in the parlour room amongst photos covering the whole wall of happy cured patients and their grateful families.

 

Even Ginger Hooper (neé Gardiner) was at one time a brilliant scholar. She once studied law at Oxford and could have almost graduated  _cum laude_ if she had not dropped out to have children. So many genius women of her generation had to leave their education early to fulfil their roles as mothers and housekeepers that it can now be considered a tragedy. Imagine loosing half of the country’s most brilliant minds to sexism! Robert Hooper here did meet his future wife at Oxford while majoring in English and fell in love with her beauty and her brains. Her mind did keep intact for the first decade of her marriage but after giving birth to Kitty it was one post-natal depression episode too much. She broke down and became insipid. Sparks of her once sharp mind still flare up from time to time, particularly when she speaks about the entailment. She was right in that the entailment should never have existed but it was made at a time when women were playthings and machines rather than actual human beings. How she rejoiced when the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 passed which prevented the making of any more entailments.

 

Surprisingly Molly Hooper can claim legitimate relation to the original Elizabeth Bennet. It was a long time ago, for sure, back at the time when Hooper was actually spelt Hoiber. (The name change was a long one involving a bet, a backgammon board, and a dragon. A story for another time). Pastor Hoiber managed to woo, and eventually marry Mary Bennet. This effectively makes our Molly here a good-many-times grandniece of her modern counterpart. Again, she had no idea of this connection. As with any forgotten history, it does have an odd habit of repeating itself, or at least rhyming, according to Mark Twain. This is in fact the starting point of the extraordinary patten of the Hooper females because being related to Elizabeth Bennet, though blood or marriage, does increase the awesomeness of a person.

 

So now in the modern day, with such unknown high expectation to reach, what will the current Hooper females do? As expected, there is no hope for Kate Hooper, who is doted on and spoilt by her mother just for being her favourite. She ends up emulating her mother in many ways, especially with her great beauty and equally great stupidity. As for Kitty, there is still hope. She is weaker than Kate in terms of health and had the most in-bed days of her family. It is thanks to this that her mind remains mostly intact even with the lack of parental attention- she is left alone to read, and read she did. Her book reading is nowhere near as Sarah’s, but it was enough to keep her mind from complete pettiness.

 

Sarah as already mentioned in this book is the plain one so she spends most of her time shut in her room studying. She is currently in university majoring in Latin and History. Because of this she has what you might call a ‘scholar’s brain’- completely brilliant in terms of academia, completely clueless in terms of everyday life. Even though they would adamantly deny it her family is worried that she might end up being a spinster with hundreds of cats filling up her small flat in Oxford. They hoped that she would find somebody to basically love her, look after her, and generally make her life less miserable.

 

As for the two eldest Hooper sisters, well, I cannot really say anything for now. Otherwise it would spoil a perfectly good plot. But what I can tell you for now is that Mary does eventually become a super-spy  by finding a talent of espionage in the most surprising of ways.


End file.
